The Packing Tee represents the next generation of concealed carry t-shirt. It’s been built from the ground up to solve the issues that face the CCW licensee looking for a good way to carry their equipment.

One of the first things that you notice when you examine one, is that the holster is modular and attached with industrial strength hook and loop material (Velcro). Turn the shirt inside out, and you see the reinforcements that have been added to the shirt to make sure that your weapon stays where you want it.

There are reinforcements around the side of the shirt, over the shoulder and around the arm holes, and across the back. Basically, the manufacturer made a cloth shoulder holster, and then sewed it into the inside of the shirt.

The shirt itself is 100% cotton, pre-shrunk. This means that it’s not only comfortable and easy to clean, but it “looks normal”. There are a number of concealed carry t-shirts out there that have rather “distinctive” looks to them, looks that can give you away to people who know what to look for. Why on earth do you want to telegraph your advantage away like that?

One of the best features of this holster system is the modular holsters themselves… and not just because you can easily switch out between the various holsters to customize your carry to what you need to do -now-. The fact that it’s velcro’ed to the shirt gives you a lot of options in the adjustment department. You can move the holster up, down, sideways, or just give it a small cant forward or backward, whatever it takes to give you that “sweet spot” for carry comfort that makes all the difference in the world in whether or not a holster system “works” for you.

Lets do some Q&A on these shirts now….

[Q] Are there sleeved versions of these shirts, or all they all sleeveless?

[A] They are all sleeveless. If there were sleeves on the shirts, there would be a possibility of getting your weapon caught in the “dangling sleeve” during a draw, and that would not be a good thing for you.

[A] However, the women’s style shirts do have “cap sleeves” on them. See the images on the order form for more info.

[Q] What colors are they available in?

[A] Black and white only. Previously, Women’s shirts had only been in white, but black ones are now available.

[Q] Is there a weight limit on the gun carried?

[A] Older technology shirts had strict weight limits on the weapon to be carried. Because of the way these shirts are made, with the reinforcements on them, they can carry significantly more weight on them. As a practical matter, though, the heavier the gun (and the larger it is), the more difficult it becomes to hide the weapon for long periods of time. Let your ability to conceal the weapon be more of the determining factor than what the sheer ability of the shirt is to carry weight, because the shirts ability to carry weight is far in excess of any reasonable concealed carry weapon. The manufacturer has told me that they claim a 10 pound per side weight limitation. To put that in perspective, a fully loaded Desert Eagle is only 8.5 pounds.

[Q] How do I clean these shirts?

[A] Official answer: Remove the holster patches before washing, then just wash them as you would do your regular t-shirts. If you mistakenly forget to remove the patches, they will not be ruined, but they will curl up on the edges some. If the curling becomes too severe, remember you can get new ones for $6.00 each.

[A] Unofficial answer: You can wash and dry them with the patches in place. However, once you do this, the patches (which are made out of industrial strength velcro) will NOT easily remove from the shirt. They will work just fine, but be sure that you have the patches “where you want them” before doing this, because you may not be able to adjust them afterwards.

[Q] What is the life expectancy on these shirts?

[A] This is a piece of clothing, and underwear at that. Given that, it’s not going to last forever. The manufacturer has estimated that you should be able to get two years out of them under “normal use”.

[Q] Do I need to wear an over shirt with this?

[A] Only if you feel the need to conceal the weapon. Seriously, though, pretty much every method of concealment depends at least in part on “cover garments”… this one is no different.

[Q] Does the shirt need to be tight on me?

[A] Previous designs of shirts needed a good amount of “snug fit” to keep the weapon in the place where it’s supposed to be. Because of the reinforcement built into this shirt, it doesn’t need to be worn as tightly as other similar products, but you do not want to wear it loose, either. Wearing it loosely will cause the weapon to sag, hang lower than normal, and bounce off your ribcage in a most annoying manner, so wearing the shirt “snug” is still a good idea.

[Q] I normally wear a size (fill in the blank), what should I wear here?

[A] If you wear an XL, then get an XL sized Packin’ Tee. There is no need to “guesstimate down” the size with this shirt. These were built from the ground up as concealment shirts, and they were built knowing that they needed to be snug. So, if you normally wear, say, and XL for comfort, then pick up an XL here as well, and it will fit on you snugly.

[Q] I tend to wear two different sizes, depending on the cut. What should I wear here?

[A] If, for example, you wear both XL and 2X depending on the cut, then you should probably get a 2X shirt. Remember, these are built to be snug, and if you get a size too small, it’s – really- going to be a size too small! 🙂

[Q] Is this shirt hot to wear?

[A] Being in the midwest, I get this question a lot. The answer is “it’s no hotter than any other 100 percent cotton t-shirt”. If you can live with a t-shirt on, this will be no different to you.

[Q] Will my gun get rusty from my sweat?

[A] Well, I can’t answer to the rust resistance of your gun, but I can tell you this… one of the reinforcement layers that makes this shirt so suited for this job, is a thin layer of plastic that helps keeps any moisture from getting from you to your gun. Beyond that, if you tend to go swimming in salt-water, perhaps you should think about duracoating your gun. 🙂

[Q] How do I draw my weapon from this holster?

[A] The Packin’ Tee is a “cross draw” style holster, traditionally one of the easiest draw motions there is. If you have a button down shirt, just reach inside and grab the weapon. If you have a non-button down (pullover) type shirt, just grab the shirt bottom nearest the gun, and pull the shirt over the top of the weapon, then go ahead and grab your gun. If you see me at a gun show sometime, ask me to show you the “boost-assist” method of drawing the gun through the neckline of almost any shirt. I would explain it, but it’s far easier to show you than to try to tell you about it. 🙂

[Q] Do these shirts come in “big and tall” sizes?

[A] Yes and sort of. Yes, in that they currently come in 2x, 3x, and 4x shirts. There are no specific “tall” versions, but these shirts were made longer than most concealment shirts, and as a result, most people will find the length to be fine. The larger the shirt, the longer they are, so be sure to check them out, you will probably be pleasantly surprised.

[Q] Can I get one of these shirts configured to carry two guns?

[A] One of the really nice things about this design is that you can easily configure it to whatever you need to go. It comes standard with both left and right mountings. Possible setups include:

One gun, no other rigging

Two guns, no other rigging

One gun, plus magazine carrier

One gun, plus hidden pocket

Bear in mind that you can buy the equipment to run any and all of these options, but you can only run the above options at any given time. The mag carrier takes the place of the second gun, for example.

[Q] How many different holsters are there available for the Packin’ Tee?

[A] There are currently two, “large” and “small”. To make life easier for everyone involved, I’m selling these holsters as a set, so no matter what holster you need now (or later!), you will be set to go. To determine which one you need for your particular gun, just try them out and see which one fits better, but in case you want to take a shortcut, here’s a cheat sheet for you:

Taurus Judge Public Defender – large holster. Older versions of the holster needed a slight mod, new ones are just fine right from the bag.

Taurus Judge Public Defender Polymer version – I haven’t had a chance to test fit one of these, but my guess it should be fine.

Taurus Judge (any larger sizing than Public Defender) – No, Not Gonna Happen. Incapital letters. 🙂 The shape of the gun will not safely work with these holsters. Do not try this at home. Or anywhere else for that matter.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2016 @ 10:00 am on the category Products - Holsters.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.